Apparatus for making branch-fitting blanks



Nov. 17, 1942. w. J. @Azev 2,302,115 f APPARATUS FOR MAKING BRANCH-FITTING BLANKS Filed Sept. 26. 1938 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 K AM wf C Nov. 17, 1942. w. J. GAzr-:Y

APPARATUS FOR MAKING BRANCH-FITTING BLANKS Filed Sept. 26. 1938 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 NOV. 17, 1942. l I W J, GAZEY 2,302,115

APPARATUS FOR MAKING BRANCH-FITTING BLANKS Filed Sept. 26, 1938 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 W. J. GAZEY APPARATUS FOR MAKING BRANCH-FITTING BLANKS Filed spt. 26, 193s 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Nov. 17, i942.

Patented Nov. 17, 1942 PATlezN'r oFFlcE 2,302,115 maaa'rns ron mmc BRANCH-FITTING lminors J. Galey, Waterbury,v Conn., assignor to Chien-als lCoPper Co., Incorporated, Wa-

terllry, Conn., a corporation YApplhaiiorn September 2,6, 1938, Serial No. 231,657

methods and apparatus for mahng branch-fitimproved method of making branch-iitting blanks with minimum waste of metal.

Another object of this invention is to provide an improved method of making a greater number of branch-itung blanks by an operator in a given unit of time.

Other objects of this invention are to provide improved apparatus for carrying out the foregoing methods.

With the above and other objects in view, as

will appear to those skilled in the art from the present disclosure, this invention includes all features in the said disclosure which are novel over the prior art.

In the accompanying drawings, in which'one way of carrying out the invention is shown for illustrative purposes: Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic view, mainly in perspective, illustrating one way of carrying out the invention;

Fig. 2 is a 1vertical sectional view on 'line 2-2 of Fig. 5, of apair of die-members and the piercing-mandrels prior'to the upper die-member being moved down into engagement with the lower die-member and prior to the mandrels being moved into terminal-forming position;

I|3"lg.3isaviewsimilartoliigjivviizh theupper die-member shown moved down into engagement with the lower die-member to perform the first step ofthe forging operation upon a. billet oi metal to partly form a forged blank;

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3, with the piercing-mandrels moved into the positions they ocsectional view on line Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the lower diemember;

Fig. 9 is a perspective view ofthe upper diemember; i

Fig. 10 is a perspective view of a forged blank containing two branch-ntting blanks; and

Fig. 11 is a perspective view of a completed branch-fitting or T made from one of the branch-fitting blanks shown in Fig. l0.

In the description and claims, the various partsand steps are identified by specific names foi` convenience, but they are intended to be as generic in their application as the prior art will per mit.

lThe particular form of forging apparatus chosen for illustration in the drawings omits the frame for clearness, and includes lower and upper forging die-members 20 and 2|, horizontal pairs of mandrels or plungers 22 and 23, and horizontal single mandrels or plungers 24 and 25. The lower die-member 20 is fixed in the bed 26 of the forging apparatus. The upper die-mem- 4ber 2| is carried by' a forging-ram 21 mounted to travel down and up in a hydraulic cylinder 28, so that the upper die-member 2| can be forced downwardly into engagement with the lower diemember 2D and withdrawn therefrom again to the upper position shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The lower die-member ,20 has guide-blocks 20a integral therewith and adapted to have interfitting sliding engagement with the guide-blocks 2 la integral with the upper die-member 2|, thus providing the die-members 20 and 2| with means which maintain the die-members 20 and 2l in 'alignment during the forging operation. 'I'he end' edges of the guide-blocks `20a and 2in, will preferably be rounded or chamfered to ensure the proper entrance of the blocks 2|a into interiitting engagement with the blocks 20a when the die-member 2li is lowered during the lforging operation. Also, the ram 21 may be provided with any suitable or known means to hold the ram 21 from rotating, so it will always. move in a proper line oi' travel.

The mandrels 22 are each mounted in a ramhead 29 with a. certain amount of freedom 01E4 vertical and horizontal components of movement in the ramhead and each has an enlarged 40 thrust-end 30 which prevents withdrawal of the mandrel from the ram-head. Ram-head 29 is Y secured to aram 3|, which ram 3| is mounted in a hydraulic cylinder 32 adapted to force the ram 3| and mandrels 22 toward and from the die-members 2U and 2|. A guide-block 20a of the lower die-member 20 has a pair of holes or mandrel-guide or bearing-passages 33 forthe die-ends of the mandrels 22. The mandrels 23 are similarly mounted in a ram-head 34 secured in turn to the ram 35 mounted in a, hydraulic cylinder 36 and adapted to be forced toward and from the pair of die-members 20 and 2| in opposition to the mandrels 22, through mandrel-guide passages 31 in a guide-block 20a v en of the lower die-member 20. Mandrel 2| is mounted on a ram 38 mounted in a. hydraulic cylinder 39 to be forced back and forth toward and from the pair of die-members 2t and 2l, with the end of the mandrel 24 mounted in mandrel-guide passage 40 in a guide-block 20a of the lower die-member 2l). Mandrel 25 is similarly mounted on the end of ram 4I mounted in cylinder 42 for movement toward and from diemembers 20, 2|, with the end of the mandrel 25 mounted in guide-passage ill in a guide-block 20a of the lower die-member 29.

The lower die-member 20 has twoadjacent three-terminal branch-fitting forming-cavities, generally designated by numerals 43 and 44, each including body-lineand branch-terminal-cavity portions 45, 46, 4l and 4B respectively, complemental to correspondingly-numbered formingcavities and cavity-portions 43a, Mq.; 45a, 46a, 41a, 43a in the upperdie-member 2l. Halfround recesses 33a, 32a, 40a and Illa in the lower die-member 20 are mandrel-guide or bearing-passages which form aligned extensions respectively of the lower halves of the mandrelguide or bearing-passages 33, 3l, 40 and ill. And the half-round recesses 33h, 37b, dill) and il'lb in the upper die-member 2i are mandrelguide or'bearing-passages which are respectively complemental to passages 33a, 31a, 49a and lila, and form extensions respectively of the upper halves of the mandrel-guideor bearing-passages 33, 3l, 4@ and ill of the lower die-member 2li when the two die-members are brought into closed or abutting. relation with one another. Thus the pairs of half-round passages 33a, 33h; Lila, 37b; lita, dill) and ila, ll-lb form cylindrical holes or mandrel-guide or bearing-passages which respectively form aligned extensions of the holes or mandrel-guide or bearing-passages 33, 3l, lll and il? 'when the die-members are abutted together ready for the mandrels to complete thev formation of the terminals oi' the blank as hereinafter described.

With the die-members 2d, 2l in a position such, for example, as is illustrated in Fig. 2, a cylindrical slug' or billet of metal vwhich may, for example, be copper or high-Gripper alloy, is placed in the position indicated by the brokenline outline, the said billet extending partly acrossthe two forming-cavities d3 and lil of the lower die-member 2@ in suitably-heated condition for forging, whereupon the upper diemember 2i is caused to move down to the position shown in Fig. 3, which forces the billet of metal between the die-members 29 and 2l to form a blank 'as shown in Fig. 3 which is complete except as to the terminals, the terminals being completed in a manner hereinafter described. The horizontal mandrels 22, 23, 24 and 25 are thereupon caused to move inward toward the center of the die-members 20 and 2i to the positions indicated in Figs. 4, 5 and 6, thus completing the formation of a ldouble branch-fitting blank 49 by completing the hollow line-terminals 50 and hollow branch-terminals 5l'. upon, the mandrels 22, 23, 24 and 25 are caused to be withdrawn from the die-members 20 and 2l .and the upper die-member 2l is caused to be other slug or billiet of metal can be inserted between the dies, and the operation repeated, to make as large a quantithy of blanks as is desired. The double blank 49 shown in Fig. 10 is then submitted to a trimming operation which cuts away the ash and connecting-web of the two branch-fitting blanks or blank-elements. Each branchor T-blank element is submitted to boring operations to remove the solid central portion 53, so that the lineand branch-terminals are all connected with one another by passages, as is susual in branch-ttings. Also, in order to make the lineand branch-fitting openings of correct size, these may be subjected to a sizing-tool which reams or bores or drills the lineand branch-openings to exact size for sweating or soldering to tubes or pipes, preferably only removing a slight amount of metal, if any, in order to accomplish this sizing operation.

In the particular mechanism diagrammatically illustrated in Fig. 1 for operating the various hydraulic rams, electrical control-mechanism has been indicated, although it will be appreciated that mechanical control-mechanism could be used instead.

In order to carry out the forging operations heretofore described, a foot-pedal 54 is4 pivoted at 55 to a floor-support 55 and normally has its arm 5l held in engagement with the limit-block 53 carried by the licor-support .55 by a spring 5S. An operating-finger 6d is pivoted at 6i to the arm 5l and has an arm 62 adapted to engage the under-side of the arm 5l and to be held in contact thereagainst either by the weight of the finger dit or by means of a spring 63. a bell-crank latch-member @d is plvoted at d5 and normally has its downwardly-extending latcharm iid held against the limit-block @il by means ci a spring titi. metal switch-bar t@ is pivoted at lil and is pulled downwardly by a spring 'li against the latch-face of the latch-arm fit. il switch-bar section 'l2 is secured in spaced relation to the switch-bar 553 by means of the insulatlon-block "13. In the positions "of the parts shown in Fig. i, the switch-bar section l2 electrically connects the switch-contacts it and iii, thereby transmitting electric current from the power-line wire it through the parts This, l2, wire li' which leads to electromagnet l@ and thence through wire i@ to the other power-line wire dil, thus completing the circuit through the electro- Y magnet 'ri and drawing the latch-arm di back Thereraised to its original position, shown in Fig. 2,

to the position shown in Fig. i von its pivot 82 against the action or the spring 83. With the latch-arm 8i held in the position shown in Fig. l by the'electromagnet '18, the switch-bar 84 is held against electric Contact 35 by means of the spring 8l.

A hydraulic valve, generally designated 88, has a valve-plunger 89 which, when held in the lowered position shown in Fig. 1 by the spring 90, causes liquid under hydraulic pressure to be transmitted from the accumulator-pipe 9| through the pipe 92, through the valve 99, through the pipe 93 to the lower end of the cylinder 28, to thus cause the ram 2 to be held or moved to its uppermost position, as shown in Fig. l, the liquid from theother end of the cylinder 28 lpassing' out the upper end of the cylinder 28 and through the pipe 94, through the valve 88, through the pipe 95 and thence to the storage-tank pipe 9B. Connected to the upper end of the valve-plunger 89 is a magnetic-core 91 adapted to move in a core-opening of a solenoidcoil 98. When an electric current is passed upper end of the cylinder 28, to thus cause the ram 21 to be moved downward, liquid being exhausted from the lower end of the cylinder 28 out movement. theAcontact-a'rm |24 carried by the ram-head 04 swings the switch-bar 84 away from through the pipe 93, through Ithe valve 88,

through the pipe 95 to storage-tank pipe 96.

A hydraulic valve, generally designated 99, has a valve-plunger normally hld pressed down as shown in Fig. 1 by a spring |0| to cause hydraulic pressure to be transmitted from the accumulator-pipe 9| through the pipev |02, through Y valve 09, through pipe |03, through branch-pipes |04, |05, |08 and |01 respectively leading to the inner ends of hydraulic cylinders 32, 36, 39 and 42, to thus hold or cause the rams 3|, 35, 38 and 4| to be moved to their outward positions, to withdraw the mandrels, 22, 23, 24 and 25 furthest from the center of the die-members and l2|, liquid being exhausted from the other ends of cylinders 32, 36, 39 and 42 similar to the way described ooncerning cylinder 28. ,A magnetic-core |08 is secured to the valve-plunger |00 and is adapted to move in a central opening in the solenoid-coil |09. When electric current passes through the solenoid-coil |09, the magnetic-core |00, together with the valve-plunger |00, is drawn upward against the action of the spring |0|, to thus cause hydraulic pressure to pass from the pipe |02 through the valve 99, through a pipe H0, through pipes ill, H2, H3 and ||4, to thus cause the rams 3|, 3 5, 30 and 4| to be moved` inward to force the mandrels 22, 23, 24 and 25 toward the center of the die-members 20 and 2|, the valve 99 at the same time causing the hydraulic cylinders to be exhausted through the pipes |04, |05, |08 and |01 back through the pipe |03 to the storage-tank pipe 96.

In operation, assuming the parts to be in the position shown in Figs. l and 2, when the operator presses down on the foot-pedal 54, the linger 60 moves upwardly and engages the horizontal arm of the latch 64 and swings the llatter upwardly against the action of the spring 68 to cause the latch-arm66 to swing to the left and release the switch-bar 69 which is thereupon drawn down by the spring 1| into contact with a switchits full-line position to the dotted-line position shown in Fig. 1, thus breaking the circuit through the solenoid-coil 99 and permitting the spring |0| to force the valve-plunger |00 down to its original. position to cause the rams 3|, 35, 38- and `4| to be retracted to their original positions shown in Fig. 1.

When the switch-bar 69 was vpulled down by the spring 1| to cause the series of actions just described, the bar-section 12 was at the same time swung upward away from the contacts 14 and 15, thereby breaking the circuit through the electromagnet- 18 and releasing the latch-arm 8| to be pulled by the spring 83 until the latch-arm 8| was swungagainst the stopy |25,` so that when the contact-arm |24 swings the switch-bar 84 to the dotted-line position in Fig. 1 as just previously described, one end of the switch-bar 84 will push bythe cam-face of the latch-arm 8 and be engaged by the latch-face thereof and held in the dotted-line position, with the consequence that the electric circuit through the contact 86 to the solenoid 98 will be broken with the result that the spring 90 will push valve-plunger 89 down to cause the ram 21 to return to its original raised position shown in Fig. l. But before 'the rain 21 starts upward, the circuit lis completed through switch-bar 84, contact |26, wire |21, electromagnet |28 and wire |29 to cause the electromagnet |28 to swing switch-bar 69 past the cam-face of the latch-arm 66 to its original position shown in Fig. l. This movement of switchbar 69 causes switch-bar section 12 to swing` down and close the circuit through contacts 14 and 15 to the electromagnet 18 which latter pulls latch 8| back to release switch-bar 84 which is swung by spring 81 to its original full-,line position shown in Fig. 1, thus breaking the circuit through contact |26 and making contact with contact 86, ready for another cycle of operations.

The invention may be carried outl in other specific waysthan that herein set forth without departing from the spirit and essential characteristics of the invention, and the present embodiment is, therefore, to be considered in all contact H5, with the result that electric current passes from the power-line wire 16, through the contact H5, through the switch-bar 69, wire H6,

solenoid-coil 98, to line-wire 80 thus causing solc- ||0 carried by the ram 21 into contact with the contact-members ||9 and |20, whereupon. the circuit is completed from the wire 16, through the contact-elements IIS, H8, |20, Wire |2|, pivot 05, switch-bar 04, contact 06, Wire |22, solenoidcoil |09 and through the wire |23 t0 the line-wire At the time the electric contacts ||9, H8, |20 are engaged, the two die-members 20 and 2| have come together to perform the tlrst step of the forging operation.

Ihe current now passes through the solenoid |00 and lifts the valve-plunger |00 against the action of the spring |0| to thus cause the plungers 22, 23, 24 and 25to move inwardly to the positions shown in Figs. 4 and 5, to pierce the partlycompleted forged blank. When the mandrels 22, 20, 24 and 25 reachthe inner limit of their including body and terminal cavity-portions complemental to corresponding cavity-portions in the other die-member, one of the die-members having mandrel-passages the axes of which are approximately in line with the axes oi.' the terminal cavity-portions, said two die-members being mounted on iirst power means adapted to force the die-members relatively oppositely f toward one another against a billet; mandrels adapted. to enter said mandrel-passages; and second power means adapted to force the mandrels along the mandrel-passages into terminal cavity-portions and into the billet, to form a branch-iltting blank having hollow-ended terminals; both said power means being interrelated to cause said second power means to force the mandrels into the billet at about the time the die-members arrive nearest each other.

2. Apparatus for making a plurality of threeterminal branch-fitting blanks each having line and branch terminals, comprising: a pair of diemembers each of which has two adjacent threeterminal branch-fitting forming-cavities each including body, line and terminal cavity-portions complemental to corresponding cavity-portions in the other die-member, one of the dieembers having mandrel-passages the axes of which are approximately in line with the axes of the terminal cavity-portions, said two die-members being mounted on rst power means adapted to force the die-members relatively oppositely toward one another against a. billet; mandrels adapted to enter said mandrel-passages; and second power means adapted to force the mandrels along the mandrel-passages into the terminal cavity-portions and into the billet, to simultaneously form two three-terminal branch-tting blanks having hollow-ended terminals; both said power means being interrelated to cause said second power means tol force the mandrels into the billet at about the time the die-members arrive nearest eachother.

3. Apparatus for making a branch-tting blank having a total of at least three line and branch terminals, comprising: a pair of diemembers each of which has a forming-cavity including body and terminal cavity-portions complemental to corresponding cavity-portions in the other die-member; first power means constructed and arranged to force the die-members relatively oppositely toward one another against a billet and forge the billet to form a partlycompleted branch-fitting blank having its said terminals partly completed; a mandrel for each said terminal; and second power means interrelated to said first power means and constructed and arranged to force said mandrels ,into said partly-completed terminals at about the time the die-members arrive nearest each other, to complete the formation of said terminals.

WILLIAM J. GAZEY. 

